Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This is an emerging situation and it is evolving. I shared two reflections in Brussels last week that I will share again. There is an issue in respect of the interplay of the executive board and the board. It is an unusual structure for a company or public body. We will have to establish whether that was a significant part of the problem. Things that would have gone to a board in an ordinary organisation did not and were dealt with at executive board level. The other issue is the interplay between commercial and public revenue. The Deputy may well have a good point in that regard. Many of us here are trustees of political parties. We have to keep separate accounts for the money we get from the public and the money we raise from our supporters. We have to make sure that public money is only spent for the purpose for which it was voted by the Oireachtas. In RTÉ, it all seems to go into the one pot. I think that is a problem and may be something that has to change.

The point relating to contractors, for example, is valid. It should be borne in mind that an employee is somebody who is taken on, gets full employment rights and is paid for the rest of their life. They are not just paid while they are an employee but are paid a pension for 20 or 30 years after they retire. That has to be taken into account when we are comparing the cost of something.

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